Iowa community college association to develop DEI recommendations

After state lawmakers passed legislation to limit diversity, equity and inclusion offices at state universities, Community Colleges for Iowa is developing recommendations pertaining to DEI practices in collaboration with community college leaders and staff.

These recommendations will help colleges shape their DEI efforts and “balance lots of competing priorities,” Community Colleges for Iowa Executive Director Emily Shields said. However, college officials say the work their colleges are doing is focused on creating access for all students, rather than targeting certain groups.

These recommendations will take into account accreditation and other certification requirements, state and federal law, campus climate and culture, any DEI activities, clubs, positions or councils, and hiring and promotion practices for staff and faculty, according to a Community Colleges for Iowa newsletter post. They are expected to be complete and shared online by the end of May.

Shields said the organization isn’t looking deeply into how colleges handle DEI currently, but is rather making recommendations for future thinking and planning on the topic. The goal is to have a “shared understanding” of what to think about when approaching DEI, and to give benchmarks for ensuring student success while handling a variety of needs.

These recommendations will also help colleges juggle the requirements and perspectives that can impact their work, Shields said, from legal to social.

“We’re going to provide recommendations on essentially how to balance just everything right now,” Shields said. “The political climate, polarized views, but also the accreditation requirements and laws that they’re required to follow.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds earlier this month signed a bill into law barring state universities from creating, maintaining or funding DEI offices that aren’t required by state or federal law or for accreditation. This could make previous DEI directives put in place by the Iowa Board of Regents — under the direction of Reynolds — moot, Regent David Barker said at the board’s April meeting.

At that meeting, presidents from each of the state universities gave updates on changes to their DEI offices and practices. The University of Iowa is reworking its central DEI office, while Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa both eliminated their main DEI departments.

While community colleges haven’t fallen under the purview of these changes, Shields said she has heard concerns from lawmakers and their constituents about community college DEI efforts potentially being exclusionary, alienating or divisive.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about what they’re looking to see from public higher ed, and that’s absolutely a part of it,” Shields said.

With these recommendations, Shields said the hope is to convey to everyone that the driving force behind DEI efforts at community colleges is access and support for all students, and that they are following the requirements of law and accreditation.

At Kirkwood Community College, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are framed around ensuring success for any and all students, college officials say.

Vice President of Student Services Jon Buse said community colleges, as institutions that anyone is eligible to attend, are diverse in many different ways, and their goal is to identify gaps in support and then figure out how to help those most in need.

“Ultimately, I think we’re pretty solid in the notion that we want all students to succeed and we want them to succeed on their merits,” Buse said. “That is, we want them to learn and be able to do the things they’ll need to do to go out and be welders or be plumbers or whatever career they’re trying to find themselves in, or seeking to achieve.”

Kirkwood has an Equity Team made up of faculty, staff and leaders across the college to communicate updates and strategies surrounding DEI work and to “advocate for change by evaluating campus climate for students and employees.” Buse said it’s a very broad group that doesn’t handle programming, but operates to connect different areas of campus and identify opportunities for people to learn more about diversity of all kinds.

Buse said he won’t know until he sees the recommendations how they might impact Kirkwood’s practices, but he believes that their efforts meet both the spirit and the letter of the law in that they’re working to meet individual student needs while offering that access to every student.

“I feel pretty confident that the work we’re doing at this college is the kind of work that everybody in our community and everybody in the state can be proud of,” Buse said.

Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson said the college has been observing the interactions between the Legislature, Iowa Board of Regents and universities, and DMACC has worked to ensure all it does, aligns with accreditation standards and laws. Neither Denson nor Buse has heard inquiries from lawmakers or others about DEI concerns, they said.

The community college has a diversity strategic plan that has the college strive to “create a culture in which all people are valued and supported, and will celebrate the similarities and differences among us,” according to the diversity vision statement.

It also houses a diversity commission, which operates with the goal of advocating for diversity awareness and integrating diversity into “all aspects of institutional life.” The commission’s definition of diversity includes “race, ethnicity, age, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and differences of thought, perspective, and experience.”

Denson said that from his point of view, DMACC is operating with two major initiatives — to increase the number of skilled graduates entering into high-demand job fields, and to ensure that any student that attends the college has the opportunity and support to be successful and become one of those skilled graduates.

DMACC is recruiting from all populations to get into high-demand programs, Denson said, and staff are looking at student data across all demographic groups to see where gaps are and make sure those in need know about services that are open to all. No one group is getting special services, he said, but students identified as being at-risk will get the support they require.

“The term DEI alone has many connotations,” Denson said. “We talk about what we’re going to do — what we’re going to do is recruit hard and help students be successful.”